Behind the Mask: How the World Survived SARS

Follow the SARS trail from rural China as it spreads to various places in the world. See how seemingly casual contacts help the disease spread like wildfire. Work alongside the many infectious disease specialists from health organizations around the world as they painstakingly trace the disease to its origins and simultaneously work on treatments-all the time knowing that each hour of delay allows the disease to spread even further.

Behind the Mask: How the World Survived SARS, the First Epidemic of the Twenty-First Century recounts the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that swept through much of the world, especially Asia, in 2003. The author does a superb job of telling the reader about what was occurring before SARS appeared, what happened during the outbreak, and what efforts are underway to prevent its return. The author has blended research results and interviews with frontline staff, particularly healthcare providers, into 20 nicely interlaced chapters. The stage for this commentary is a timeline of events, starting November 16, 2002, with the first known case of SARS in Guangdong Province, China, and ending in December 2003 January 2004 with 4 cases of SARS and the slaughtering of 10,000 civets in Guangdong Province. Where possible, the author avoided the use of medical terms and jargon and provides helpful lay translations where their use was unavoidable. As a result, the book is accessible to readers both inside and outside the healthcare arena. The information presented in the book is, for the most part, current and accurate; different views and beliefs are presented when necessary. There are minor typographical mistakes as well as a few incorrect statements, such as in chapter 1, page 6, where the author refers to past public health efforts to eradicate viruses. The author states that smallpox virus and poliovirus have both been eradicated and that both are now bioterrorism agents. However, despite tremendous progress through efforts of many governments and public and private entities, poliovirus has yet to be eradicated and is not regarded as a bioterrorism agent at this time. With regard to SARS, however, the author successfully portrays the human side of the outbreak response a response heralded as unparalleled by many of the involved officials. Dr Carlo Urbani, the World Health Organization (WHO) physician in Vietnam who worked tirelessly and who was an eve --Mehran S. Massoudi*